The first time i saw The Princess Diaries was in 2001 when it was released in theaters.
I had seen the trailer, and being a fan of Julie Andrews I just had to see
it.
It was even better than I expected. The rags-to-riches story is not very
original, but in the end it is what you do with it that counts. The royal
princess lesson scenes in the movie are hilarious.
Anne Hathaway (who plays Princess Mia) is great in contrast to Julie's Queen
Renaldi. All of the supporting castmembers do an excellent job for that matter.
Erik (Brink!) Von Detten plays a good opportunist who wants to take
advantage of Princess Mia. So does Mandy Moore, who also shamelesly wants to ride along with Mia's newly-acquired fame and fortune.
The relationship between Mia and her mother Helen (played by Caroline Goodall, also
known from Hook and Schindler's list) is also very worked out within the
story. In addition, we have Hector Elizondo (as chaufeur/bodyguard) and Heather
Matarazzo & Robert Schwartzman (as Mia's real friends). This is, in the scheme of things, still a pretty new movie since this list spans about 60 years of disney films. Still I believe this film will stand the test of time. But most important of all, it is just 115 minutes of sheer fun !!
-Marc (Brink!)
The Princess Diaries is one of the fluffiest (if not *the* fluffiest) live
action productions from Disney. Yet it works. The humor in the film is
gentle and doesn't rely heavily on huge laugh-out-loud moments. The basic
ugly duckling-turned swan story has been done to death, and the movie knows
this, therefore its constantly winking at the audience. It knows that at its
core, it has nothing truly original to add. It remedies this not in what
they're presenting but, rather, how they present it. The film has its share
of heartfelt moments and avoids keeping them sappy by adding an indgredient
of oddballness that works. This may not be the deepest, most
thought-provoking film made, but it's a light and entertaining way to spend
2 hours.
-Kelvin Cedeno
When I first saw the previews for this movie, I wasn't sold on it completely. It looked funny to me, but it wasn't a 'rush out and see it' kind of movie. When my friends dragged me to see it, I was pleasantly surprised. I thought it was hilarious and very true to the Disney spirit. It reminded me of the early days of Disney movies. I also loved seeing Julie Andrews return to Disney and in fine form. I grew up watching Mary Poppins repeatedly. The movie is magical and just a good wholesome Disney movie.
-Joshua Parks
(2001)